Correct. Palmistry is a predominately mechanical method of divination. You just need to be able to interpret the lines although a certain amount of gut feeling does come into it. . However, Tarot is based more on intuitive ability. Unlike the lines on the hand one card can have many, many different meanings. They are a trigger to the "psychic mirror" reflecting the thoughts of the client back to you. That is why you need to affix your OWN meanings to the cards.Very hard to explain metaphysical methods to the uninitiated and inexperienced I am afraid. However, if you really are interested in this stuff there are many sources of knowledge available to those who lack experience in these matters. I would suggest "Tarotmania" by Jan Woudhuysen as the most useful source I have found.

performer wrote:Correct. Palmistry is a predominately mechanical method of divination. You just need to be able to interpret the lines although a certain amount of gut feeling does come into it. . However, Tarot is based more on intuitive ability. Unlike the lines on the hand one card can have many, many different meanings. They are a trigger to the "psychic mirror" reflecting the thoughts of the client back to you. That is why you need to affix your OWN meanings to the cards.Very hard to explain metaphysical methods to the uninitiated and inexperienced I am afraid. However, if you really are interested in this stuff there are many sources of knowledge available to those who lack experience in these matters. I would suggest "Tarotmania" by Jan Woudhuysen as the most useful source I have found.

That explanation makes sense to me, especially since in Tarot there is an intervening object between reader and subject, i.e. the cards. Whereas in Palmistry you are directly examining physical traits (i.e. the lines) etched or embedded in the body.

performer wrote:Correct. Palmistry is a predominately mechanical method of divination. You just need to be able to interpret the lines although a certain amount of gut feeling does come into it. . However, Tarot is based more on intuitive ability. Unlike the lines on the hand one card can have many, many different meanings. They are a trigger to the "psychic mirror" reflecting the thoughts of the client back to you. That is why you need to affix your OWN meanings to the cards.Very hard to explain metaphysical methods to the uninitiated and inexperienced I am afraid. However, if you really are interested in this stuff there are many sources of knowledge available to those who lack experience in these matters. I would suggest "Tarotmania" by Jan Woudhuysen as the most useful source I have found.

That explanation makes sense to me, especially since in Tarot there is an intervening object between reader and subject, i.e. the cards. Whereas in Palmistry you are directly examining physical traits (i.e. the lines) etched or embedded in the body.

Coincidentally I was just thinking that today! You are already picking up psychic vibes!

Palmistry is physical. Tarot is metaphysical. Think about it for a moment. When you read a palm there is only one route available according to the individual hand. However with Tarot there are thousands of possible routes because a lot depends on what other cards are in the same spread or even the positioning of the cards. Thus a card can have one meaning in a certain situation but if a certain card is beside it then it can have a different meaning entirely. The combinations are endless particularly as most readings have several spreads. Therefore you cannot keep to a set formula the same way you can with palmistry. Although the lines on the palm change over a period the change is very slow indeed. With Tarot you have changes all the time within the same reading so you cannot keep to a specific meaning for an individual card.

I believe 100 percent in the Tarot. It is the most powerful divination tool known to man. And I believe it works for perfectly sound and logical reasons that are not supernatural in any way.

performer wrote:It is irrelevant who wrote the meanings. The first thing an aspiring reader should do is rip up the little white book of instructions that come with the tarot. YOU write the meanings! There are NO standard meanings! What you do is find space on your own. Take each card and meditate on it and think "What does that card mean to me". Do that with every card. You will get the best results if the cards mean something to YOU rather than some standard meaning written up in some book somewhere.

You stress this point on your DVD collection: Tarot/Numerology/Palmistry. This is a great bit of information as it allows you to choose other decks that best suit you; and not necessarily the original decks purpose.

Very true. In fact if I have seen a client several times then I will switch to a different deck than the one I normallly use. The second deck has a completely different set of meanings to the first deck. Which means the readings are not only different they add a new dimension to the experience. I use the Prediction Deck for most of my readings. Alas they are now unavailable. For repeat sessions I am inclined to use the Rider Waite deck which of course is the famous and most standard one.

I believe that palmistry is the study of the unconscious mind i.e more lines on the hand means more of an active mind at work. Is that why you say you read the palms first, before the cards..because you will know quite a bit about the person from their palms.

What is your thoughts about the " unconscious " mind &, the lines on the hands ? Is there a connection ?

This thread kind of motivated me to dust off my book on palmistry and give it a go.

I believe that palmistry is the study of the unconscious mind i.e more lines on the hand means more of an active mind at work. Is that why you say you read the palms first, before the cards..because you will know quite a bit about the person from their palms.

What is your thoughts about the " unconscious " mind &, the lines on the hands ? Is there a connection ?

This thread kind of motivated me to dust off my book on palmistry and give it a go.

Many people can read the Tarot without doing the palms first. I am not one of them. I can do it but it is certainly more difficult for me. I personally need to do the palm first so I can garner information about the client and get a feel for him or her. I am then in a much stronger position when I go on to the Tarot. I can relax and let my own subconscious mind take over. That is why you should not use strict standard meanings you get in a little white book of instructions. If you do that your conscious mind is predominant and this inhibits the "vibes". The more relaxed you are the better the information comes through.

I personally think the unconscious mind manifests itself more with the tarot than with the palms. Both my unconscious mind and that of the client although probably mostly mine. I don't really know if there is a connection between the unconscious mind and palmistry. I am just a simple soul trying to earn a living. If I were to delve too deeply into this stuff my head would explode. I do know that palmistry and tarot combined are a very powerful combination. In fact a psychic fair promoter once told me that it was the strongest combination of reading systems at a fair. I have found this to be true.

I thought this was an interesting bit of palmistry history (unintentional play on words):

"A pivotal figure in the modern palmistry movement was the Irish William John Warner, known by his sobriquet, Cheiro. After studying under gurus in India, he set up a palmistry practice in London and enjoyed a wide following of famous clients from around the world, including famous celebrities like Mark Twain, W. T. Stead, Sarah Bernhardt, Mata Hari, Oscar Wilde, Grover Cleveland, Thomas Edison, the Prince of Wales, General Kitchener, William Ewart Gladstone, and Joseph Chamberlain. So popular was Cheiro as a 'society palmist' that even those who were not believers in the occult had their hands read by him. The skeptical Mark Twain wrote in Cheiro's visitor's book that he had '…exposed my character to me with humiliating accuracy.'"[Wikipedia Article on Palmistry].

Cheiro was a very colourful character. I remember years ago trying to study his work but I couldn't make head or tail of it! And a lot of what he wrote seemed to conflict with my own ideas so I gave him up! I learned palmistry from Richard Webster's books on the subject. I have always recommended his books on this kind of thing. He has sold ten milllion of them after all! I don't know of any magic books that have sold quite that many!

I found the following story on Godlike Productions by a guy named Mason Smith on palm reading. The true palm readers are very rare and their knowledge are very deep. They will tell your past by reading your right hand. You will know the accuracy and then they will tell you your future by reading your left hand. Some where around 1960 what I was told, it all came true but the last segment that he didn't elaborate, which means hard times, seems to have begun. When a palm reader refuse to tell you anything further. Accept it and don't push him further, because they avoid telling you bad things. A friend of mine swore to me that it is true. Telling me his story that he was in College the same time frame. One day him and his two class fellow buddies skipped a day from dorm and went to city to have good time. Out of nowhere they spotted a palm reader place. As a joke they all went in. The palm reader, read the palm of two but refused to read the hand of the 3rd. The young man, got his gun out and threatened him that if he doesn't read his palm, that he will kill him. The palm reader replied, Sir, if you put it that way then I am going to tell you that your life is no more than a few days left. Yes indeed the 3rd day he got killed by enemies in his village. My friend was telling me this story. That friend passed away two years ago.

Thank you Kirk. Alas I don't like that story very much. In fact the bit at the beginning sounds like utter nonsense since the left hand represents the past and the right hand represents the present and a little bit of the future but in a general sense only. If the person is left handed then it has to be done the other way round.

I have had quite a few clients tell me that they went to a palm or tarot card reader who refused to read them further. It scared the hell out of them since they believed the psychic was holding something terrible back. I have had to reassure them that there is nothing negative at all and there is nothing for them to worry about. And there usually isn't.

It is true to say that some psychics will refuse to read you. I think this is a terrible way to treat people as it scares and upsets them. There are several reasons why this may happen.

1. The psychic may indeed imagine they see something terrible. Alas the odds are they are talking utter nonsense. 2. A more likely reason is that they are not getting the "vibes". Perhaps the client is stone faced and showing no reaction. So the psychic decides that he or she can't do the reading so does not bother. A good psychic does not need feedback but it is a hell of a lot easier if he or she gets it. By feedback I don't mean them giving you information but a little smile or a nod so you know you are on the right track. I often get stone faced people but you just go ahead anyway without panicking. You will not know if you are on the right track until the end of the reading where they will visibly relax and tell you how wonderful you were. You can then heave a sigh of relief. 3. This is very rare. However, it is possible you may get a very negative person who is a bit aggressive or overly sceptical. Or tries to trick you. Or just has too many troubles for you to handle. So the psychic refuses to read them.

Not me. I have never refused to read a single person no matter how aggressive or sceptical.

With regard to the story you told it may or may not be true. However, assuming that it is here is my take on it. I suspect the psychic took one look at the guy and thought, "I don't like the look of him. He looks a nasty piece of work. I am not going to read him" After all if he was the sort to pull out a gun he probably did look like a nasty piece of work! The psychic then took quite a dislike to him and made the death prediction out of spite. And he or she probably figured that anyone who pulls guns out on people is quite liable to get shot himself. Only it happened a bit quicker than the psychic expected! Probably a coincidence but one should remember there is such a thing as a self-fulfilled prophecy and this is why many predictions of psychics actually come true.

Anyway this is a very dangerous business. Come to think of it many, many, years ago I was sitting at a table with a bunch of fellow psychics and was daft enough to say to them, "This is a very dangerous business". They went all quiet and it was a very awkward silence. Then one psychic woman snarled at me "Why is it a very dangerous business?" I cannot be sure of this and I may well be wrong but I swear it was Sylvia Browne well before she became famous. It certainly looked like her.

In my book on palm reading the author tells the reader that Horizontal Lines are considered obstructive and not good.On my dominate hand ( right hand ), I have many horizontal lines on the Mount of Venus and in the book she writes that if these lines intersect the main lines ( in my case the Life Line ), that these lines are called " worry lines or stress lines ".

With that being said, would you tell the client that you see worry lines on their palm ? Or, if there is a break in the Life Line that means something not good is around the corner. How do you handle that ? It is possible that the client may all ready know about these lines if they had their palm read in the past by another reader.

On my left palm, there is also "grills " on the Mount of Venus too. How would you tell them that ? You want them to walk away from your table feeling good about the reading.

I have noticed that some palmistry books contradict each other. My own advice to you is to concentrate on the books by Richard Webster so you don't get too confused. I have studied other palmistry books but in general I follow the teaching of Richard Webster. He has published not only books for magicians and mentalists on this subject but has sold millions to the public. Virtually any bookstore in the world will have access to his books on palmistry.

Quite frankly I don't remember anything in his books about horizontal lines although I may well be wrong. If they do have negative meanings I would personally never mention them or if I did I would soften the sting of them considerably. I don't like negativity in a reading. A lot of psychics feel that it is their holy duty to tell the exact truth as they see it and in fact clients will often demand that you do. In fact they can get nervous if they think you are holding something back. If a client demands of me, "You have to tell me if you see something bad" I will assure them that I will indeed. However, I never do. That is the svengali pitchman in me of course.

I never predict doom and gloom like some idiot psychics do. I understand why they do it of course. They believe what they see. However, I know perfectly well that nothing is cast in tablets of stone and a client CAN change their life for the better no matter what a psychic says to them. In fact I emphasise this in my literature to them since I do have to sleep at night. Of course the other side of this is that you cannot predict everything in life is going to be a bed of roses for two reasons. One is that it probably isn't true and can even set up false expectations and put them in a worse state of upset and disappointment if the predictions don't come true. However, another reason is that it they won't believe you if you say everything is going to be wonderful without any problems. So what I do if I see negative cards is that I point out obstacles that will need to be overcome, victory after a struggle etc;. However, I make sure there is more good than bad in a reading and I soften the negativity. You want clients to feel better for having met you.

It is true about worry lines on the Mount of Venus. However, there seems to be a difference of opinion in palmistry schools of thought about them crossing the life line. I find that this often shows a close call in the past (You always say the past--never the future since you are not supposed to be in the business of scaring people) a close scrape of some kind or even a health problem. With regard to the worry lines themselves I do mention them quite frequently because most people have worries. It gives me a chance to give advice on worry and stress which I have used in my own life. Again I am there to help people not to astonish or amaze them. Of course in the less common scenario where there are no worry lines then I will say, "You worry when there is cause to worry rather than when there is nothing to worry about"

If there is a break in the life line it usually means a trauma of some sort in the past (Again you always say the past) It could even be a health problem or again a close call of some kind but they did live to tell the tale. It has a very similar meaning to the worry lines crossing the palm although in this case it has to be one or at the most two very strong lines making that crossing. In the case of them having a reading with another reader if they have heard something that the other reader has said that worries them I will remove that worry by what I have to say about it.

As for grills I hardly ever mention them. I keep away from the negativity. However, you can certainly say there are obstacles the client has had to face but they have overcome them or if you prefer you can say they are going to overcome them. You really must not take this stuff too literally. You can have a cursory knowledge of palmistry and do perfectly well. It is actually more important to have empathy with people and know human nature that it is to be too much of a technical expert with palmistry. You are not a specialist palmist who can take an hour over a reading. You won't need that much.

Yes. You have it right that the client should walk away in a pleasant frame of mind. I find palmistry more of a character analysis although it will tell the future in a very general sense. It therefore doesn't get too much into people's problems. That tends to come out much more with the Tarot.

The I Ching is my secret weapon. The most powerful part of my reading even though it only takes up 5 minutes of my hour long session which I do by private appointment rather than at psychic fairs. However, I am not an expert in the I Ching. It is an ancient Chinese method of divination. I never use it at psychic fairs though.

However, palmistry and tarot are the most powerful combination in a reading. I have used rune stones in the past but am not much good at it.

Leave that spread as it is and I will show you all how this stuff works. Name two people. They can even be fictional ones or perhaps someone from history. No. On second thoughts I will name them myself. Two diametrically different people. Let us say Adolf Hitler and Mother Theresa. Completely different individuals. The same spread chosen at random can have two different meanings according to the person being read. I do not believe necessarily in Jung's theory of synchronicity. I believe that spread you made come up at random. Or even if it didn't I had no idea what spread you would make. I could do a reading for every single person on this forum with THAT EXACT SPREAD OF CARDS. I would have to have them in front of me so I could pick up their "vibes". And I would have to read their palms first to make the "vibes" stronger. I could probably do it without these preliminaries but it would be much harder.

However, as an example I will use the spread you have given as an example. I haven't looked at it properly yet but it doesn't matter. All you have to do is fit the spread to the person you are reading. It isn't supernatural and is perfectly logical. You have to use your higher self and sense of spirituality to make it work more effectively but you can get by somewhat even without it. When I am tired I let my subconscious mind take over the reading and it comes out better. The conscious analytical part of the mind shuts down and the unconscious part takes over thus making the reading more effective. It is the unconscious part of the mind (and the tarot helps to trigger it) which helps you to be more intuitive about people and sense what is troubling them. You don't need that mechanical, artificial and ineffective "cold reading" guff. You read from the heart, sense what they sense and things work out far better that way.

There is a strong spiritual element to my work in this area that people who do magic tricks don't quite understand since they are seeing things all the time from a trickery and deception point of view.

I may explain all this later and compare the two personalities I mentioned. Or I may not since this can be very time consuming particularly if there are unhelpful distractions which make me feel I am wasting my time. In the meantime you can watch this video to get an idea what psychic ability it is all about. You might find me there too if you keep an eye out.

I am looking at Brian's spread to see what interpretation I should make of it. Perhaps it will help me to decide something and at the same time provide a lesson on how the tarot works. I have to make a decision as to whether continuing with the imparting of what I consider valuable information with the subject matter. I am reluctant to do this because I am getting bad vibes from magic fish who I do not think is being constructive using passive aggressive contributions to this thread. Comments such as tattoos on his body of tarot cards which are designed deliberately to irritate me. He knows full well that serious tarot practitioners would find this annoying if not downright offensive and that is why he is mentioning it. I do not believe for one moment he ever considered tattoos of tarot card images. Or wishes to write a book about how palmistry will affect the food a person likes. Stupid comments concerning a fictional unnamed psychic in Florida who is alleged to be the greatest who has ever lived. Equally stupid comments about how all readings are fraudulent which he is making not because he necessarily believes them but because he knows they will bother me. These comments may seen innocent when taken on an individual basis but if looked at collectively along with his track record on other forums of following me around and continually challenging me on other magical subjects under the pretext of merely offering his opinion, then it becomes very obvious indeed as to what he is up to.

I am not inclined at the moment to continue if he makes even one single further post on this thread. Sure, he is entitled to do this but I am also entitled not to contribute further if he does.

I use at times a metaphysical method of making decisions. It is called "muscle testing" and it probably works on the ideomotor effect in the way the pendulum works. Look it up on google. It is telling me not to proceed further. However, I shall now look at Brian's spread to see what it says regarding this. Naturally my own bias will take effect in the interpretation but that is how the Tarot works. This examination will probably be my final lesson on how Tarot works. One moment please.

OK. This is the first time I have looked at the spread properly. First I see the Judgement card. It means I have to decide whether to continue with this imparting of information or not. I have to decide if magic fish is making innocent posts or not. I always tell clients they should never make decisions when they are in a bad mood. They should only make decisions when they are in a calm frame of mind but once they make their mind up they should not change it. I am not in a calm frame of mind so that allows me to change my decision particularly if other people here tell me they think this fish person is being sincere in his interest or just trying to annoy me. My gut feeling tells me the latter is more likely than the former.

OK. Now let me see what the other cards tell me about making this decision. The devil card beside what I think is the temperance card means that I am going to be quite liable to lose my temper. After all the Devil represents temptation and the temperance card is a warning to avoid temptation. The strength card is telling me to persist and see this through. Alas the hanged man tells me that it would be a wonderful thing if someone would hang the bastard that is annoying me but the Fool card is telling me it would be foolish to do so. But of course the Fool has another meaning and of course it is perfectly obvious as to who it is referring to. It shows that if he is not careful he is going to fall over a cliff and I fervently hope he does so. Don't blame me. That is what the image shows. The temperance card is warning me not to make the obvious interpretation of the death card beside the fool card. I have been led to believe falling over a cliff does result in such calamity. Alas I have a suspicion that the death card instead represents the death of my advice on this thread since I do not see why I should waste my time.

But let me continue. I do hope that this is showing how bias can affect a reading and how every reading is different according to what interpretation the reader makes of the situation and his impression of the client. Since I am both the client and the reader the interpretation may be a little askew or more likely very accurate indeed.

The hanged man represent sacrifice of some sort. In order to get something I have to give something up. There is no such thing as a free lunch. However, in order to give up something I will have to decide whether what I give up will be worth what I receive in return. Well, let me see. If I give up this thread because of the fool within it what will I gain and what will I lose? Well, I will lose the need to express myself. But others will lose more since they may need the knowledge and I don't. Apart from that I don't think I am giving up very much. So what will I gain? Time for one thing and lack of irritation for another. No skin off my nose in other words.

But there is another meaning to the hanged man. In order for me to continue and others to benefit the Fool will also have to make a sacrifice. He will have to give up completely and not say another word on this thread. The second he does make any comment of any kind is the second the Death Card comes in. That means the complete death of the thread itself because I will no longer contribute to it. And I would ask Richard to tell him to shut up so that I can share my knowledge without distraction. If that happens the wheel of fortune will take over. In other words the wheel of fortune will turn in favour of the thread.

The chariot card represents to me victory after a struggle. Look at the picture of the two horses. One horse is going one way and the other is going another way. The chap controlling the chariot is trying to get the horses under control in the same way I am trying to get this thread under control. However, he does get the horses under control. After a struggle but he gets there. In other words it is victory after a struggle. In other words if I persist in this policy of not continuing while the fool participates then I will emerge victorious after a struggle.

As for the Hermit card which is hidden away under the death card it means that the foolish fish would be far better off going off on his own and leaving me alone. However, the temperance card is warning me not to say to him only two words in closing the second of which is "off". I will therefore resist the temptation to say it with the help of the Chariot Card which means to me "victory after a struggle" And it is certainly a struggle not to say it.

There. That is how the Tarot works. It helps you to come to a decision. And when you have a client you interpret the tarot along the same lines but never advise. Just let the client figure out what it all means.

And this is what it means in my case. I will not be making any further contributions to this thread until the fish swims elsewhere and reminds himself that fish get eaten by sharks. The shark has not shown up in Brian's spread but I rather think everyone knows who it is anyway.

I was interested how long you spend with someone doing a palm reading at your booth? And also the same with someone wanting a tarot reading, how long ? Do you combine the two ( palms & tarot ) with one price ? Or is each separate ?

I am still learning palmistry but, I read the cards too and have done so many years now. I do charge for tarot readings and understand why that's important that the client puts some kind of value on the reading, other wise it isn't worth very much like you say.

Mark, didn't you once have clients mail scans (copy machine) of their palms to you?

With the technology of high resolution cameras in all the smart phones that this would be a viable option as a after the reading service via email. Sort of a souvenir and follow up with clients. This way you could make comments on the hand photo at your leisure. Of course there would be a price for this service, but that is all covered in the deluxe reading service.

I do something similar when I do Numerology. I do a hand drawn chart but send a more detailed chart with details via email. They seem to really like it.

I have considered that stuff and have even done a few free ones on Facebook. However, I detest computer technology which is beyond my normal genius and have no intention to get further into it. And I do too much psychic work as it is. I have a three week psychic fair tour coming up and that is quite enough. Oh and as I am in a slightly more flexible mood I shall inform Kirk that I do ten minute palm readings (as per the video) and ten minute tarot readings. I charge $40 for palm readings and $80 for the tarot reading. However, if the client goes for the tarot reading (as 80 percent of them do) then I read the palm free of charge. So in other words it is $80 for a 20 minute reading.

The drawback at psychic fairs is that they can be very intense with one reading after another and there is great danger of one's head exploding at these events. I have to sell svengali decks there for relaxation which should give you an idea of what torture it is. After all selling svengali decks is torture in itself but of a different kind. However, it is the lesser of the two evils.

Of course I am a very odd kind of psychic. I do magic tricks at the fair and make people laugh uproariously. It keeps me sane (just about) and gets me business. If I didn't have svengali decks there it would cut my business down by about 20 to 25%. I sell very few but it encourages people to have readings. Counter intuitive I know.